THE DIGITAL INTERMEDIATE - EXAMPLES
FOREWORD
One of the hardest things as a colourist (or a creative in general) is sitting with a client who has absolutely no idea what they want their ‘vision’ to look like. You patiently sit for hours, gradually fettling the colour, traversing the entire rainbow and they eventually settle for a distinctive look. Something over the top and usually a complete pig to create, or at least treat scene to scene throughout an entire project. You then spend hours/days/weeks to create the agreed consistent look across the project. You reach the final stretch and the director or producer suddenly gets cold feet. The amazing grade you have given blood. sweat and tears over, is gradually dialed back till the colour is basically a fraction of the original unique look. Of course this is an extreme scenario but it happens. Try not to get too disheartened, go with the flow and enjoy the ride – or tweak it back when they are not looking.
It is difficult to stay on top of what looks are current, or what people want to see but visual colour seems to be making a massive difference to tell a narrative. Even stings for broadcast are being radically treated these days. This section is not really about how to achieve a look which a few people have asked for, it is just a few examples of different work which you may encounter or be involved in. From restoration of old material to new digital cameras. I have graded from black & white stock to digital, they all react and have different ways to be treated. I wanted to add a small section to showcase different materials you may encounter.
I am a fan of new digital workflows, although my heart truly lives with grain it is nice to see work in different materials and keep up to date. Obviously it is difficult to show the grain or intricate detail to its greatest in such a small size on the web but hopefully some of the examples will be enough to wet your appetite looking at both old or new. All of the examples in this section are what I have worked on over the years and when time permitted, to take a few samples.
Please remember the examples shown are optimised to look good on my monitor at home, apologies if they are not good on yours - check out Calibration for an explanation.